“In this work we have met numerous obstacles—­the apathy of the people, the inherited and depraved appetites of drunkards, and the perilous social customs of the day, which are indorsed by the practice of many otherwise excellent people.  Worse than all these combined is the influence of the licensed dram-shop.  We can arouse the indifferent to action; we can enkindle in the drunkard aspirations for a better life than that of debauchery; we hope, in time, by constant agitation, to change the social customs of the day.  But against the influence of the licensed dram-shop we are powerless.  We have no ability to cope with this most formidable enemy of virtue, prosperity and good order.

“A long and bitter experience compels us to say that the most untiring efforts to reclaim the drunkard have, in many instances, proved unavailing, because his demoralized will has been powerless to resist the temptations placed in his path by the sanction of the State.

“Worse, if possible, even than this—­the licensed dram-shop is instrumental in creating a new generation of drunkards.  For thither resort our young men, the future hope of the country, who speedily fall before the seductions of the place, their habits of sobriety are subverted, their moral sense is blunted, their will palsied, and they drift rapidly into the appalling condition of habitual drunkenness.  The licensed dram-shops are recruiting offices, where another army of drunkards is enlisted, to fill the ranks depleted by dishonored deaths—­and the great Commonwealth extends over them the aegis of its protection, indorsing them by the sanction of law.  The people of Massachusetts drink annually twenty-five million dollars’ worth of intoxicating liquors. Only God can furnish the statistics of sorrow, poverty, disease, vice and crime, begotten by this fearful consumption of strong drink.

“Under these discouraging circumstances, men of Massachusetts, we appeal to you!  The licensed dram-shop is the creature of political action.  We are wholly destitute of political power, by which it must be overthrown.  Anguished by the peril of fathers and brothers, husbands and sons, we appeal to you to make good the oft-repeated assertion that the men of the State represent and protect the women of the State at the ballot-box.  We beseech you to make earnest efforts to secure the repeal of the license law at the next election, and the enactment of a law prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage.

“We are sure we speak the sentiment of the Christian people of this State, and of all who stand for morality, thrift, virtue and good order, when we say that the great State of Massachusetts should not take sides with the drunkard-maker against his victim.  If either is to be protected by law, it should be the drunkard, since he is the weaker, rather than the rumseller, who persistently blocks the pathway of reform.